Dream of Me
by Leelei
Summary: JxA. Plagued by her past, Aelita decides to leave her group of friends in order to sort out her memories. But after she begins meeting, and dating, other people, Jeremie finds himself fighting his hardest battle yet to win her back.
1. Chapter 1

**Dream of Me**

By: Leelei

Disclaimer: I don't own Code:Lyoko

Author's Note: All right, no more setbacks –I'm _finally_ going to get this story published whether I am sick or not! So here it is, my beloved little JxA epic. Please enjoy: )

And also, I wanted to mention that I have no idea what malls are like in France, so I had to plug in a few American stereotypes, _Je regrette!_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Ice cream. It was so soft, so cold, so smooth. It slid off the spoon and into her mouth, gliding easily over her tongue as it chilled her teeth. With a long, lingering taste, she swallowed, her spoon already prepared for another bite. The taste was practically heaven-sent –how could there possibly be any more flavors needed after this? And it was so strange…the contents of the cup were so light, yet the frozen substance was so filling. But she knew that. She had always known that. After her mother had introduced her to it, ice cream was nearly a ritual dessert in her household during her childhood life. It was just the obstacle of remembering it.

But this was the first time in several years that Aelita had tasted ice cream. It floored Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and even Jeremie to realize that they hadn't introduced –or rather _re-_introduced- the once virtual girl to such a wondrous treasure from the freezer. In fact, Aelita could only recall that the last time she had actually tasted ice cream was the night before her father had virtualized her.

"Done already, Aelita?" Yumi asked, glancing at the pink-haired girl's empty cup before biting into her ice cream cone. "I think you've beaten Odd!"

"No way!" Odd cried, his cheeks puffing out as he shoved the last huge bite of his ice cream cone into his mouth. "No un eber beats me!" he mumbled through his packed mouth, bits of cone flying out in front of him.

"Yuck! Odd, close your mouth!" Ulrich chastised him, standing up from the bench next to him and moving over to sit on the other side of Yumi, his own half-eaten cone still in hand as he blocked it from the bits of cone with his napkin.

Aelita smiled at the occurrence. "I guess ice cream was easier to remember than I thought."

Jeremie, sitting next to her on the bench within the mall's food court, leaned forward to notice her empty ice cream dish as he sipped from his milkshake. "Would you like another one?" he asked after letting go of the straw.

"No, thank you," Aelita answered, keeping her smile for him. "I'm so full, I couldn't bear to eat another bite!"

"Hey, it's probably almost time for you guys to be getting back," Yumi commented, finishing up the last of her cone.

"Yeah, and remember we're taking the long way to walk you back to your house first," added Odd. He and Yumi looked over to Ulrich who hadn't even finished his ice cream. "Come on, Ulrich!"

"What? I'll be done in a second," Ulrich retorted. "I like to taste my food, Odd, not just inhale it."

"Honestly, as soon as you realize what it is, what's there to taste after the first bite?" Odd joked. "Do you keep forgetting what you're eating, Ulrich?"

Ulrich simply narrowed his eyes at the comment and continued eating as the rest of the group suppressed their laughter at his expense.

"Don't worry, Ulrich," said Jeremie between his giggling after a glance at his cell phone for the time. "We still have a few minutes before we need to go."

As the boys and Yumi began a new conversation, Aelita's attention shifted to another. Two girls, about her age, maybe a year or two older, were sitting at a table across the room. They were talking, laughing, and playing with their cell phones for a while, but by then Aelita noticed that the one girl facing her direction had kept glancing over to her specifically. Aelita swore that, out of the corner of her eye, she even saw the girl pointing at her.

The two girls picked up their purses as they stood and gathered up their trays lightly littered with food wrappers. Then Aelita noticed that they passed all of the trash cans nearest to them and walked directly to the one just a few feet away from her.

After discarding the trash and their trays, the one girl rolled her eyes. "Oh, I just hate it when girls die their hair such drastic colors, then match their eyebrows to it to make it look natural. It's just so tacky!" she gushed rudely to her friend, making sure Aelita heard every word.

"Yeah," her friend replied. "It's like, grow up, okay? That's _not_ your real hair color."

Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi all turned their attention to Aelita when they noticed her staring at the two girls. Also, Odd had just happened to hear their brash remarks. "Oh, that's real sound advice coming from a girl that's got roots growing out to Marseilles!" he shot back to them.

"Ew, I wasn't talking to you!" the first girl replied cattily.

"Good, I'm sure my ears will thank me for saving them from the torture," countered Odd.

"You're weird," the girl shrugged him off with a furrowed brow as she and her friend each clutched their purses to their shoulders and walked off, nearly in unison.

"Hey, thanks!"

"Wow, who _were_ they?" Ulrich asked in disgust.

Yumi sighed. "Don't bother knowing them. They used to be in my class until they switched schools a couple years ago."

Ulrich snickered. "Thank god. The last thing we need at Kadic is two more Sissi's with PMS." Yumi and Odd laughed.

Jeremie looked over to Aelita. The young girl had a blank expression on her face as he watched her slowly reach back and lift the hood of her pink sweater over her head. "Aelita?" he asked, watching her actions.

"Yes?" she quickly looked over to him, dropping her hands after covering her hair.

"Are you okay?"

Aelita immediately smiled again for him. "Of course, Jeremie. You don't have to worry, I know not to think about what those two girls said. I'm just a little cold…that's all. Too much ice cream."

"Oh, well, okay," the blonde boy replied. "I just hope you understand that what they said was completely wrong, and that they're just two ignorant-"

"Jeremie," Aelita cut him off. "I understand. It's okay." She smiled again and he managed to change his attitude and return the gesture.

"Hey, let's get out of here," Odd announced to the group as he collected the wrappers and napkins from them and threw away all of the garbage into the trash can. "I'm beginning to remember why we try not to come up to the mall anymore."

"Thank you, Odd," Aelita said, looking up to where he was standing near her. "For what you said."

"That's okay, Aelita. Putting that girl in her place was my pleasure!" Odd's smile beamed at his accomplishment. "And besides, friends always stick up for each other."

The rest of the group stood, Jeremie smiling again as Aelita took his hand when he offered it to her, and grinning even wider inwardly to himself as she continued to hold it while they all walked through the mall. Nearing the exit, though, they passed the entrance to the movie theater within the building. Posters and other propaganda from the production company covered the outside glass and walls of the theater, all promoting the next big movie that had opened during the weekend.

Aelita stared at it as she continued to walk with Jeremie towards the exit. She couldn't recall being in a movie theater. Although, she knew that she had to have been because she remembered watching a children's animated movie on the screen. I must have been too young at the time to replay it completely, she thought. The new memory urged her to drop Jeremie's hand and run back to the theater, but she ignored it and continued walking with her friend, her vision still panning across the cinema as the group passed it by.

As she and her friends walked through the streets of Paris back to Yumi's house, visions of the cartoon movie kept replaying in Aelita's mind.

* * *

Hooray, I'm so happy to be posting another chapter fic again:D I hope this first little part has sparked your interest. I know it was short, but some of the phrases and actions in it are crazy important for all of the foreshadowing within the fic. Chapter 2 should be up shortly, but in the mean time, please leave a review: )


	2. Chapter 2

Dream of Me

By: Leelei

Disclaimer: I don't own Code:Lyoko

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"You've been awfully quiet."

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. Click-click. Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap… Aelita listened intently as Jeremie's fingers quickly danced over his keyboard while the two were in his room that night. The pink-haired girl had taken up a seat on his bed, her chin in her hands as she leaned her elbows on her knees, staring at nothing within the room as she heard only the sounds of the computer. "Huh?" she replied, lifting her face from her palms and looking over to her friend.

"I said you've been awfully quiet," Jeremie repeated himself kindly without removing his vision from the screen.

"Oh," said Aelita. "I've just been thinking a lot lately…"

"About…?"

"Well…about everything." Aelita leaned back on the bed, propping herself again with her hands. "My memories are so strong…so _vivid_…but so random. It's just frustrating when they come out of order. Or, when some aren't strong enough for me to remember them completely."

"I see…" Jeremie responded, his eyes still glued to the screen. He was deeply concerned for her, but he was also in the middle of logging a document that he didn't want to lose.

A few more minutes of quiet passed before Aelita spoke up. "Jeremie, can we go to a movie tonight?"

"_Tonight?_" Jeremie asked. He stopped typing and turned in his chair to face her.

"Yes, tonight," she reassured him. "You have birthday money left over from the ice cream, right? I didn't get seconds…And it's not _too_ late…"

Jeremie sighed and shook his head. "Aelita, I don't know where you got a notion like that. Why don't we just stay in, huh? I've still got a lot of work to do just on this one document. It might take me all night even without going to see a movie."

"Oh…okay," Aelita replied.

Jeremie went back to typing. She went back to listening. He had often declined her requests in the past, always because of his work for her and Lyoko, and she was still understanding of his reasons. Her logic then began kicking in. If they went to a movie, they would get back to the dorms just as curfew would start, then Jeremie would probably breeze through a little homework and then stay up all night on the computer, even as exhausted as she knew he would be. No, keeping him out at a movie wasn't very thoughtful. He needed rest. That's what she should be asking from him. His rest.

But then her memories reappeared in her mind again. She was watching the cartoon on the large screen again, the scene a little foggy due to time. Then, suddenly, a new image appeared. Aelita, in her memory, looked to the seat next to her and saw the faded image of her mother, smiling sweetly at her in return. The woman's mouth moved, yet Aelita couldn't make out what she was saying.

"Jeremie," she automatically called. "Jeremie, I want to go to the movies."

"What?" Jeremie stopped typing and looked to her again. "Aelita…we just went over this."

"I know. I still want to go."

"But I can't take you, I'm sorry. Call Ulrich and Odd. I know for sure that they'll go with you."

"They don't have any money left, remember?" Aelita countered as she stood up from the bed. "Odd even borrowed from you for his third cone!"

Jeremie recalled lending him money earlier that day. And he also knew that Yumi wouldn't be allowed out again that late into the evening. He sighed. "Aelita, I'm sorry."

"Jeremie…" Aelita called his name glumly.

"Maybe…" he tried to think of an alternate. He was obviously using his own computer and had also rigged his laptop to the network for the files he was using, and he didn't want to send her out to the factory, but his mind kept searching. "Maybe…you could watch a DVD in the library. It should still be open a little longer."

"Oh-" Aelita was going to finish responding, but her memories flashed back again. It was the same scene with the movie, but her mother's image was clearer. She still couldn't understand her words. "Jeremie…please," she said weakly, the memory tormenting her.

"Aelita!" Jeremie said in a disapproving tone, moving around to see her again after having just turned back to the computer. "I already said that I can't. I'm really very sorry, please believe me."

"It's…it's…" she mumbled underneath her breath, trying to get the other word out.

"Okay?" he finished, although having not heard her muttering. Aelita nodded. "All right. Now, I _have_ to get back to this work…" he trailed off, turning back to the computer once again.

The memory flashed again. Then again. Then Aelita remembered the ice cream, then the confrontation with the girl, then her mother. Memories were flying back and forth in her head, just as they had been since she retrieved them all. But by then, something was just too much. It had all become too much.

And then she just couldn't take it anymore.

"Jeremie!" she shouted his name sharply.

Jeremie's attention darted back to her, turning just his head to her call. "Yes, Aelita?"

"Let's go to a movie," she said sternly.

"Look, Aelita, I don't know if you're trying to play a game with me or something…" He turned in the chair again to face her.

"Jeremie, this isn't any game. I just want to go to the movies. Is that so much to ask?"

Suddenly, Jeremie became worried at the tone she had taken on. He stood from the chair and stepped towards her. "Aelita, are you feeling all right?"

"I'm fine. I just want to go to the movies, please. I've asked you nicely, and no one else can take me. That's all I want."

"And I told you that I simply cannot take you tonight, I'm sorry. Do you want to go tomorrow? I'll check the times right now if it'll make you feel better."

Aelita balled her fists tightly. "I said that I wanted to go _tonight_. All you're going to do is just sit at that computer. You can take a break!"

Jeremie was shocked at what she was saying. It was totally unlike her! And why was she being so persistent about going to the movie theater? "Look, Aelita, maybe you should go down to the nurse…"

"Why? I feel perfectly fine. I want to go out, remember?"

After that remark, though, Jeremie's brow furrowed. "Of course I remember. You've only been bugging me about it for the past ten minutes."

"Oh, so I'm _bugging_ you?" countered Aelita.

Jeremie shook his head, coming back to his senses after her reply. "No…no, not at all. You're not bugging me. It's just…you're being very…_insistent_ with this going to the movies wish."

"Then take me!"

"Aelita, I _can't_. There's too much work to do here."

Aelita closed her eyes tightly as another memory flashed through her mind. In the foggy scene, Franz Hopper had just stood from a seat at a dining room table, looking to her and saying, _"I'm sorry, Aelita, I can't take you today. Ask your mother."_

"Jeremie!" she cried desperately. "I just want to go!"

"Aelita, stop. No means no. Gosh, what has gotten into you tonight?"

Then it all unraveled for Aelita. She lost control, yet by then she couldn't distinguish when she even had it. "Nothing has gotten into me because _you're_ the one who's making this so difficult!" she snapped.

"What's wrong?" Jeremie asked. "Are you mad at me?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong…just the fact that all you do all day is work on those files. Why can't you ever take a break? It's not like they're going anywhere!"

"Aelita, you understand as well as I do that decoding those files could be the key to re-materializing your father. We could shut down X.A.N.A. and Lyoko for good if I could just find all the right answers. Every second I spend brings us closer to that…and you know it."

"_Every_ single second? Jeremie, you need to start sparing those seconds more often!"

"I…I don't want to. I want to solve the puzzle for you…"

"Well, I don't want the solution," snapped Aelita. "Not now. Live now! Find the solution later. This is Earth at the moment, not Earth under a X.A.N.A. attack. Enjoy it while it's here."

There was a brief pause. "Shut the door," he said simply.

She complied and returned to their argument. "You haven't been spending enough time with me."

"Aelita, I know, and I truly care about you very deeply, but…I…I just need the time right now, that's all. Time to work on this for you."

"Well, as the person you're doing this for, I say _take a break."_

"Ugh!" Jeremie cried, raising his own balled fists into the air and quickly dropping them. "What are you trying to do? Is this a X.A.N.A. attack? Are you some kind of Aelita clone here in her place?"

"Of course not! I'm just a simple girl that wants to see a movie tonight."

"Then _why_ are you being such a spoiled brat?" The words flew from his mouth and immediately Jeremie would have given his life to catch and burn them for eternity. There was no way that what he said was what he thought he had just said.

Aelita was fuming. "I'm a spoiled brat because you've _made_ me one! This is your fault, Jeremie! I wouldn't want to do these things if _you_ hadn't taught me them!"

Jeremie couldn't believe this was happening. It was like time was slowing down around him and would collapse if he couldn't sustain it. "Aelita, please…"

"No, Jeremie. I…I just can't take this…" Suddenly, she began to calm down. "This…this is just too much for me. X.A.N.A., the attacks, the memories, my life here…it's just too much to balance."

"Well, you know I'm always here for you, Aelita. I'll help you straighten them out in any way you need to," Jeremie said in a comforting voice. "Would you like me to start by taking you to see a movie? If we leave now we might just miss the opening credits…"

Aelita looked to him, her eyes finding true peace in his, yet her mind making up a different decision. "No. No Jeremie, I wouldn't. I need time away from all of this. I only wanted to go see a movie because I had a memory that I was with my mother in a theater when I was a little girl. I guess…I guess that I just wanted to recreate that time."

"I'm sorry that your memories are bothering you. I'll do anything you want to help," Jeremie offered again.

"No, Jeremie, I can't ask that of you anymore. Actually, I think it would be best if we didn't spend any time together for a little while. I…I'm the one that needs the break."

Jeremie felt as if he had just been stabbed. His stomach even felt that it was turning circles slowly inside of him. "Aelita! Please…"

"I just want to try and put my memories back together. Maybe if I'm surrounded by different people it will help."

"Wait…" Jeremie shook his head. "Do you mean that you're _leaving_ the group?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, but it's the only way I can feel comfort."

"But what are we going to do about X.A.N.A.?" Jeremie suddenly panicked. "Aelita, you're the keys to Lyoko! We can't deactivate the towers without you!"

"I'll still go to Lyoko for you. And I'll help you when you need it," she replied. "It's just that I can't keep living my life like this. Not this new one I've been given, at least. I need to remember how to be normal again, Jeremie. I _want_ to remember how to be normal again."

Jeremie still couldn't believe what she was saying. His hands began to shake and tears were forming in his eyes. "Aelita, it doesn't have to be like this. How long are you planning on staying away? How will we keep in contact?"

"Yes it does, Jeremie. And I have my cell phone if you need me, and I'm in most of your classes. But as for how long…" she trailed off briefly. "As for how long…I don't know. Until I can get things sorted out again."

Jeremie started to reply, but his voice was nearly failing him. Tears were forming his eyes, then just brimming over his lashes. "Please, Aelita…"

"I'm sorry, Jeremie. I just need to feel like a normal human girl again. I have nothing else to say. Good-night." Before turning to the door, she reached behind and lifted her sweater hood over her hair again, like she had done earlier at the mall. Then, without even a glance back, she left.

Jeremie couldn't help but reach out to her as he watched her go. His hands shook and his stomach continued to churn as he saw the blurry door close behind her. "Good-night," he whispered, and a tear fell down his cheek.

He was experiencing that same terrified feeling like the day when he thought he had lost Aelita and X.A.N.A. had taken control, but as he stood in his room that night, he wasn't the least bit afraid of X.A.N.A. This was a different feeling.

This time, he had actually lost her.

* * *

Okay everyone, please stay with me for this –I'm going to ruin it now and promise that there's a happy ending, because you know me. It all ends happy…you just gotta get through the drama and angst first to see how. : ) Chapter three coming soon. Thank you for the reviews! (and more always kick ass:D) 


	3. Chapter 3

Dream of Me

By: Leelei

Disclaimer: I don't own Code:Lyoko.

Author's Note: Oh man, I'm sorry for not updating this sooner. This chapter came out a little rough, so I hope you don't read it quickly (the sentence structure is a little "f'ed" up let's say. If you can fill in the blank, you'll save me from having to up the rating). All right, let's get the ball rolling again…

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"Then she said that she just needed to feel like a normal human girl again and left," Jeremie finished explaining the next morning as he sat on a bench in the school courtyard. His face was slightly red and tear-streaked, his eyes a dried out red color as well. He had obviously been crying during the night.

"It's okay, Jeremie," Yumi said. The Japanese girl put an arm around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. "You're Aelita's best friend, and I know that this will all blow over soon."

"But that's weird how she just took off like that," commented Ulrich, standing in front of them with his hands buried into his pockets. "Especially just because you wouldn't take her to go see a movie."

"No, it's more than that," replied Jeremie. "It was her memories that drove her away." He looked over and saw Aelita sitting alone on another bench across the schoolyard reading a book. "She doesn't want to be around me because the lifestyle she leads with us is what's making remembering so painful for her."

"So she thinks if she acts like she doesn't know about Lyoko, and hangs around with _other _people that also don't know about Lyoko, then she'll be normal and the pain will go away?" asked Odd, peeling a banana that he had swiped from the cafeteria after breakfast.

"I guess so," answered Jeremie glumly.

"Odd, do you ever stop?" Ulrich asked, watching Odd smash the piece of fruit with incredible speed. "I think you've eaten an entire bunch of bananas just since breakfast!"

"Hey, a growing boy's gotta eat!" Odd countered as the bell rang. "Guess I should save the apple for during chemistry. Ulrich, buddy, would you mind putting it in your pocket for me?"

"Oh, no! The last time I stashed fruit for you that pear ended up having a mushy bruised spot that _I_ had to sit on all through math. No way!"

"Aww, come on, Ulrich! You know how hungry I get twenty minutes after breakfast!"

As the two boys continued their dispute while walking off to their class, Yumi looked to Jeremie again. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked.

"Yeah…" he replied meekly as he watched Aelita across the courtyard stand from the bench and walk to their classroom.

"Do you want me to walk over there with you?"

"No…I can make it." Jeremie understood that Yumi knew he was no stranger to cutting class when he felt that he had more important things to take care of, but he didn't want her to think that he would also cut to avoid a situation. "But you can come with me if you'd like."

Yumi smiled. "Okay, let's go. My English teacher won't be too suspicious if I'm only a few seconds late."

The two walked to the chemistry classroom, Yumi hugging the blonde boy again before hurrying off to her own class. Jeremie fixed his glasses and walked in with the late bell, catching just the last of Aelita's conversation with Mrs. Hertz as he heard the science teacher give her permission to move her seat towards the front of the room to better see the notes on the overhead projector. As Aelita turned to her new desk, she caught eyesight with Jeremie and smiled. Jeremie almost had to force a smile for her in return.

"All right, class, take your seats," Mrs. Hertz announced as Jeremie sat down in front of Ulrich and Odd and immediately put his head down. "Please get out your notebooks and begin copying the overhead," the teacher commanded again in her stern voice, turning off the lights and switching the projector on.

"Jeremie?" Ulrich whispered to the blonde boy. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Jeremie looked back over his arm, not even bothering to lift his head.

"I said, are you okay? You know Mrs. Hertz will yell at you for putting your head down."

"Yeah…I'm fine," Jeremie replied and returned to his former posture. Ulrich and Odd just shrugged to each other and pulled out their notebooks to begin copying.

"We will be taking notes today and tomorrow in order to prepare for our lab on Wednesday," Mrs. Hertz continued as she moved the overhead to reveal more of the notes.

Suddenly, Jeremie perked up. If there would be a lab on Wednesday, he thought, then Aelita would have to be his partner since she originally sat by him! And, since there was an even number of students in the class, Mrs. Hertz wouldn't let her join another group. The old science teacher was infamous for never letting anyone work alone in order to save her time on grading papers, save Jeremie before he had virtualized his pink-haired classmate, considering his labs were always flawless anyway.

"Do your best to pay attention, as this will not be coming out of the textbook. Jeremie, pick your head up or go to the nurse. There is no sleeping in this classroom," Mrs. Hertz said, placing a new overhead on the projector.

Jeremie saw Aelita just for a second as she glanced back at him while the others laughed. She turned back quickly, but he could see just a hint of blush on her cheeks and a small smile on her face.

So he had a plan. He would talk to Aelita again on Wednesday and finally set everything straight. He couldn't wait. After living nearly his whole life not knowing her, and then having been only able to talk to her through a computer screen for a year, spending just a couple months with her on Earth had spoiled him too much for him to ever want to be without her again.

* * *

Okay, chapter 4 is written already, but I don't know how soon I can promise it with the due date for my English paper looming around the corner, but I'll definitely keep updating in the back of my mind while I'm pounding my head on the walls over commas and proper citations. Until then, please drop a review on your way out:D 


	4. Chapter 4

Dream of Me

By: Leelei

Disclaimer: I don't own Code:Lyoko.

Author's Note: Fuck _The Sound and the Fury_, fuck _Hamlet_, and fuck any other book we read in my English class. Now, on with the fic…

* * *

**Chapter 4 **

Jeremie felt the anticipation bubbling inside of him. He spent all of Monday night thinking of what he would say to Aelita until finally he realized that he just had to be himself and let her know that he missed her too much. On Tuesday, however, he had found an interesting file in Franz Hopper's logs and spent another night with his eyes glued to a computer screen. But when Wednesday morning rolled along, he had enough excitement to cover for all of his friends as he waited for class to start.

"Good morning!" he called with a smile as Ulrich and Odd trudged up to him.

"Uhhg…what's morning?" Odd mumbled, dragging his feet and book bag over to the bench and slumping himself down.

"Jeez, what's wrong with you two?" Jeremie asked, holding the strap of his messenger bag. "You look like you've barely had four hours of sleep."

"Three and a half…" Ulrich managed to reply.

"You forgot about your English papers, didn't you?" Jeremie asked, remembering his own typed, printed, and neatly stapled as it sat in a folder within his book bag. He had finished his with ease the week it was first assigned a month earlier, but his two classmates obviously had not.

"Yeah…" Ulrich replied as he tried to rub the wrinkles out of his shirt. Odd snored as he sat sprawled out on the bench.

Yumi walked up to join the group. "Hey you guys. So is today the big day?" she asked Jeremie, having talked to him about his plan.

"Yep!" Jeremie replied cheerily as the bell rang.

"Great, good luck, Romeo!" Yumi said to him with a smile as the group parted ways. "What happened to you two?" she asked Ulrich.

"I'll tell you what happened…" the tired brunette boy replied, almost feeling the bags sagging under his eyes. "Fourteen straight hours of Shakespeare happened, that's what."

"You guys forgot your term papers, didn't you?" Yumi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"How did you guess…Come on, Odd," Ulrich tapped the sleeping boy. "It's time for class."

After a pat on Ulrich's back, Yumi started walking to her class as the other two forced themselves along to their own. They barely made it in with the bell, seeing Jeremie smile happily as they took their seats.

"All right class, quiet down," Mrs. Hertz commanded as she walked around passing out a set of papers to each pair of partners. "You will have exactly one period to complete this lab. Only one set of notes is allowed between the two of you. You may begin."

Jeremie continued to grin as he turned to his partner. "Hey, Aelita."

"Hi, Jeremie," the said girl responded with a smile. "How have you been?"

"Good," he lied. "How about you?"

"I've been fine. But I really haven't been understanding these notes very well. I don't know how good of a partner I'll be for this lab."

"It's okay, I'll explain them to you," Jeremie replied a bit eagerly. He hadn't been paying much attention himself, but the chapter was simple enough for him to comprehend.

"Thanks," said Aelita with a smile that made him want to melt.

Jeremie never realized how much he valued his time with her as they worked together during that period. The hands on the clock seemed to fly by and soon Mrs. Hertz called for clean-up before the bell would ring. Jeremie and Aelita had already been long finished and the blonde genius used their spare time to put his plan into action.

"So, Aelita…"

"Yes, Jeremie?" Aelita asked, noticing the uneasiness suddenly forming between them.

"I know you said that we shouldn't hang out, but…" Jeremie trailed off, trying to word his thought perfectly so she would agree. "Would you mind if I called you…like, at night?"

Aelita smiled. "Of course not, Jeremie." The blonde boy suppressed a sigh of relief as she continued. "You can call me any time you'd like, I've always loved talking to you."

"Great! How about every night at seven o'clock then, is that all right?"

"Sure."

"That way we can each have a separate day, but then we can talk about what happened and keep each other updated."  
"That sounds great," Aelita replied as she stood from her chair. "Well, I'm going to go use the restroom. Talk to you at seven?"

"You bet," Jeremie answered with a grin. "Bye, Aelita."

"Bye, Jeremie."

Jeremie watched Aelita leave, feeling as if he were floating on a cloud to have patched things up with her. Then he looked back as he heard someone struggling behind him.

"Hey Jeremie," Ulrich said to the blonde genius as he fought to get two test tubes unstuck. Odd sat snoring next to him with his head lolled back over the chair. "How quickly can you go over this lab?"

Jeremie just snickered and moved over to help Ulrich save his lab just before the bell rang for the end of the period.

That night, everything had gone great. And Jeremie didn't even have to call Aelita; she was the first to call him, not to mention at 6:45! They talked for over an hour, even if they were just a floor away from each other in their dorms.

It seemed that Aelita really did just need some time to feel like every other normal human being. She had been going to bed early, catching up on her Italian project, and had just started a new mix earlier that day after school with Odd's help (after he had taken a long nap). And also, she apologized for moving away from him in their chemistry class. She really _did_ have trouble seeing the overheads, but Jeremie just shrugged it off and told that that it took months of practice to read a Mrs. Hertz overhead without squinting.

But the blonde genius was still confused as to why he hadn't been seeing her during lunch and dinner over the days since her split from the group. That is, until she explained that she was asked to tutor Milly and Tamiya in their math lessons during lunch and had been sneaking into the library with her dinner to watch old movies and read magazines. Aelita explained that she had missed so many important years of life and just wanted to catch up on what was happening in the world around them.

And as for Jeremie, his days weren't very interesting to retell. Mostly, he wanted to let Aelita know that he was working on finding a channel to open a link directly with Franz Hopper. He had tried countless times to trace the coded messages that the old scientist had sent, but he hoped forming a new channel would create a clear path of communication between them.

Aelita wished him luck with his project, but she tried not to think about Lyoko. It pained her to put off her responsibility, but she felt that it was best in keeping herself sane and the memories at bay. Since she had stopped talking to Jeremie in person, she hadn't had one memory plague her. But she continued to talk to him every night, the two taking turns as to who would call first, since things seemed to be working out rather well for the both of them that way.

All until one night when Aelita had decided to stay in the cafeteria for dinner. She didn't know that Ulrich had a late soccer game scheduled for that exact hour and that Jeremie and Odd went to watch, with Yumi planning on joining as well after she finished dinner with her own family, so Aelita was left to take a seat alone at an empty table. As she started her solitary meal, someone approached her and gently tapped her shoulder.

"Hey, what's a pretty girl like you doing here sitting alone?" a boy her age asked. He was of a normal height with hair the same color as Ulrich's, but flipped out in different directions, and also had a very charming smile as well. "Why don't you come join my friends and me?"

"Oh, hello, Theo. I would love to join you and your friends…"

* * *

Haha, I like how I censor myself for every other chapter, and then in this one I just let loose (Author's notes are now un-rated due to my anger-fueled foul mouth). I'm sorry for taking so long, the next chapter isn't written but I hope to take care of that soon. In the meantime, please review! 


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